Wind Turbine Power

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Wind turbines. When they appear they are mostly the horizontal type with three long, rotating blades, although vertical-axis, helical-bladed examples are showing up more in science fiction. They can be an expression of environmental themes, and a symbol of old technology—windmills—meeting modernity, in that they make electricity.

They make for striking imagery against a blue or dramatically cloudy sky—or when used in large numbers. In other words, they make for great Scenery Porn. Anime and manga are two media where the trope is popular, particularly in more recent works.

Alternative energy seems to be a big deal in Sinnoh, so it makes sense that wind turbines would make an appearance in Pokémon Diamond and Pearl. Wind turbines also appear in New Bark Town (but only in the remakes) and Nuvema Town of Pokémon Black and White.

In Wii Sports Resort, a set of wind turbines are used as the sole source of electricity on Wuhu Island.

From SimCity 2000 onward, wind turbines are a cheap source of clean energy, but have to be constructed in bunches in order to be effective.

Halo: Reach features vertical-axis turbines in its first level, powering highland farms.

In No More Heroes, Letz Shake is fought in a wind farm, and the area is shown in the starting theme too.

Persona 3: Wind turbines are visible from the roof of Gekoukan High School. They can also be seen on the map screen.

You can build windmills in Civilization IV. In the pre-modern eras, they appear as the classic old European windmill - stone tower, big sails on a wooden framework. When you reach the Modern era, they transform into modern wind turbines.

There is a mission in Borderlands which requires the player to activate several wind turbines which have been shut off ("Braking Wind"). Wind turbines often appear in the background, as well.

Subverted with Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War in which Mission 8 has a damaged transport attempting an emergency landing, which unfortunately happens in the middle of a wind farm, and requires you to destroy any turbines the plane might crash into.

The original Silent Hill has a unique example. The Otherworld streets, in addition to being full of nightmarish delusions and pulse-pounding music, contain many rusted functioning windmills that inexplicably jut haphazardly from the abyss under the town's now steel-grating "streets". Good to know even some ancient demons are thinking green, despite being one of the physically darkest alternate worlds within the series, with next to no working lamps other than our hero's flashlight.

In the Myst series, the D'ni seemed to be very fond of green energy from the get-go. The first game has a windmill being used to pump water throughout the Channelwood Age to power some elevators and an extending bridge, the Cleft in Uru runs off a vertical turbine, and the factory in Er'Cana seems to use one as well, although the model used for the latter isn't very well-rendered.

Used in the background of one of the levels of World of Goo, and for good measure, you have to avoid one of the turbines to keep your goo structure intact, while enduring a harsh wind. The mysterious Sign Painter mentions that even windmills weren't enough to power the World of Goo corporation.

There is a wind farm north of Los Santos in Grand Theft Auto V. As terrain is not destructible and the wind turbines count as terrain, it is not recommended for aerial vehicles to stray too close. This can be helpful if making a last stand against the police as their intent is always to flys towards those with 3 stars or above ... There are a few race maps as well with the tracks positioned in and around the blades - player vehicles don't treat being hit by indestructible scenery any better than the police copters do ...

In Fallout 4 you can spot scrap-metal windmills here and there across the Commonwealth, usually as part of a Gunner stronghold on an elevated highway. You can build some yourself to power your settlements, and though they're bulky and don't generate a lot of electricity, they're much less noisy than a smoke-belching oil-powered generator or fusion reactor, which will keep your settlers happy.

In the Far Harbor DLC, windmills become a plot point. The island setting features a pre-War, experimental wind farm, part of a much-too-late effort to switch to green energy during a global oil shortage. It still works and provides Far Harbor with electricity, which is crucial for powering the devices that keep an irradiated fog and the monsters that lurk within it from rolling over the town and killing everyone. One of the ways you can resolve the conflict on the island is to locate and use a killswitch to disable the wind farm, dooming Far Harbor.

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